Float
by jedimasterroyal
Summary: Anidala Week 2014 Day 4, Prompt:Childhood. They both wish they had normal childhoods.


_FLOAT_

_hey jedimasterroyal here. Here's the submission for Day 4 of Anidala Week 2014. It has honestly been a blast so far doing these submissions and I know that there have many fateful readers out there. So my thanks to the creators and moderators on the tumblr page for creating such a cool event. Without further ado…_

_disclaimer: i do not own star wars, disney does. _

* * *

She wishes she had a normal childhood.

She considers this on a nice summer day when she's invited to her sister's 20th birthday. She goes, along with Sabe and a small squadron of security guards. Honestly she's much too embarrassed, but it's her sister.

Practically the whole youth of the village is there and when she enters everyone turns around to see her. It's the most awkward she has ever felt and believe her, she has faced with harsher dignitaries.

During the whole party she tries to catch up with her friends, at least the ones she had seven years ago before she entered the legislative youth program and she was elected Queen, but everyone kindly ignores her. And who wouldn't ignore her? All she knows is politics and problems. She can talk all about the benefits of decreasing student tax rates but not for the life of her can she talk about boys and pimples and the dance at school. Everyone treats her like some historical hero figure and force-forbid she'll embarrass them with her infinite wisdom.

She sits out the rest of the party on the edge of the deck. Inside the loud thumping of music sounded, while all the girls and their companions danced away. The dress she is wearing is nothing compared to what she wears in the palace and she finds no need to worry if it gets wrinkled or worn. Sabe had whisked away for a short moment to check on the security. She sighed, contemplating how a 15 year old found herself in a situation like hers. The water below the deck barely touches her feet.

It's peculiar how for the past seven years she had immersed herself in all the knowledge of politics, and found that the experience of actually being a civil servant was unlike anything she had learned. No book or professor, could have told her how to deal with the Trade Federation last year. Nor of how to unite the humans and Gungans of Naboo. Nor of how to ask the Senate for help.

And now she realized that all the experience and learning in politics never taught her how to be a 15 year old girl. Part of her was scared for the future. How the hell would she ever get a boyfriend or even a husband?

Suddenly a cold breeze picked up and the water of the lake rose softly to lap at her heels. Looking down at the dark pool of water she remembers exactly why she entered politics in the first place.

She's ten the summer before she becomes an apprentice legislature and she goes to Shadda-Bi-Boran with the Refugee Relief Movement. She's on the ground when she hears a tortured cry in one of the tents and she runs in. Inside a woman is in hysterics. Her father is there trying to calm her down but the woman finds no solace in his words. It is only when Padme leans closer to assess the situation that she finds what has the woman in such a state. Wrapped in a blanket, cradled in her arms, is her baby. He is a small boy with a tuft of golden hair and his eyes, a clear blue, are open yet unseeing. Her infant is dead, a product of the many diseases that plagued the planet and the lack of care from the government. It breaks Padme's heart, as her father pulls her out, and the last thing she hears is the woman screaming out, "My Luke!" It is that moment that cements her as a politician.

Suddenly Padme wishes to take a swim. She stands up from the her seated place at the dock and steps back. A grand smile adorns her face. All the things she had learned had taught her how to swim but now the life she lived had thrown her into the deep end. She learned how to survive on her own but she would not give people the satisfaction of watching her simply get by. She would not float.

Soon a large splash is heard and all the guests and security find one Padme Amidala swimming giddily in the water.

"Come on in, the water's fine!"

* * *

He wishes he had a normal childhood.

He considers this twice.

The first time he considers it is when he's 11 and Obi-Wan is teaching him how to swim. He hates water, which is extremely weird for a boy who had lived his whole life in a desert.

"One would think you would enjoy the water," said his master annoyingly.

It's not necessarily that he hates the water but he fears it. He's five years old and him and his mother are under the care of Gardulla the Hutt. Even though the Hutt is a female, she is cruel and unmerciful. All he can remember is that one night he is taken from his bed by rough hands. His mother is instantly behind him and he can hear her.

"What are you doing to my son? Where are you taking him?" the desperation seeping through her voice.

The man chuckles and turns around, his arms grip his body so tight that it hurts. He sneers, "Gardulla's tired of your bitching for water. She's gonna teach you a lesson."

"No! Please. Please take me instead. Don't hurt my son. Please tell Gardulla that I promise to never bother her again. Please," she cries out.

Soon enough there at Gardulla's pool located in the one of the rooms of the vast palace. Gardulla is situated with her party at one end of the pool and he sees his mother run and kneel at the Hutt's tail.

"Gardulla, please!"

The Hutt responds and her protocol droid translates.

"The great Elder Gardulla says that you shall be punished Shmi Skywalker. Guards do what you must."

He is so enthralled in the conversation, that he fails to notice that the guard only has him by the neck now and that he is at the pool's edge. Suddenly he is submerged in the deep end. He has never been in water and his first instinct is that he enjoys it but suddenly he tries to breathe. He sucks in water and discovers that being in the water is no fun. He thrashes but the grip around his throat tightens. The guard pulls him out. His eyes sting and all he can hear is his mother's cry. He is submerged three times that night.

Anakin looses contact with that particular memory when Obi-Wan pushes him into the pool. He kerplunks and reaches the bottom but finds that he cannot remember the breathing exercises Obi-Wan had showed him moments ago. It's only when he's visibly drowning that Obi-Wan pulls him out.

He wishes he had had a normal childhood, one where he could have learned to swim without a slave's fear.

The next time he considers having a normal childhood he is in the lake on Naboo. His wife is swimming laps around him and he's just standing there. He knows how to swim now but that still does not mean he enjoys being in water.

He does enjoy looking at her in the water. It's almost as she was meant to live in it. They way it trickles down her smooth body and her curls fan out. She comes over to him and pulls him down for a kiss. When they pull away, she traces the scar running down his eye and she splashes some water at him. They play in the water and he makes her believe he's fine, but he's not.

His whole life has been decided for him. He was a slave without choice and he was also the Chosen One without choice. His life meant hardly anything and all he would ever be was partly settled in. The Jedi Order had taught him so much, had saved him from slavery and for that he was grateful. But the Jedi life had also robbed him of the one thing he truly wanted. Love.

He wishes he could have had a normal childhood; one that involved him not being a Jedi, one where he could love freely.

The Jedi had taught him how to swim, but this war and the responsibility of being the Chosen One had thrown him in the deep end. Sure, he would keep learning but only to carry on. To float. He would float away until one day he could live in peace with his love.

* * *

_FIN_


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